Unnatural Trauma
It hurts your brain to think of things that don’t belong in your concept of the world. Contemplating infinity for too long, seeing proof that sometimes 2 + 2 = 5, and understanding how magic actually works are all unnatural traumas. It’s more subtle and unnerving than Violence. Everyone recognizes that violence exists, even those who are insulated from it. Unnatural traumas don’t just attack your idea of safety. They attack your idea of how the universe works.
If Hardened/Failed Violence are often used to run away from or towards battle, Hardened and Failed Unnatural are both often used in Climb and Swim rolls involving magic and the supernatural. Both can attune a character to the workings of the paranormal and so are often used to make appropriate Perception, Appraise, and Knowledge (arcana, dungeoneering, planes, religion) rolls. Hardened Unnatural is often used to make Disable Device and Intimidate rolls that involve magic or spells somehow, as well as Craft rolls to produce an enchantable item and Linguistics rolls involving otherworldly languages. Spellcraft, Will, and Use Magic Device rolls all often use Hardened Unnatural in general.
Hardened Unnatural governs the spellcasting of wizards. They also use it to calculate how many skill ranks they receive each level. Only one other class ~ bards ~ enjoys the benefits of a single trait governing both.
The Effects of Various Levels of Failed Unnatural (FU) Trauma on Personality
1 ~ At this level it’s pretty hard to tell. Perhaps you become a little superstitious—pestering the local fortuneteller daily, watching for “lucky” numbers, avoiding cracks in the sidewalk, etc.
2 ~ You have a few nightmares, and you are suspicious of and/or fascinated by occult and religious books, places, paraphernalia, and people.
3 ~ You frequently feel like you’re being watched, even when there’s no one around. Sometimes it seems like you hear voices in “white noise”—sounds like the wind in the trees, the sloshing of servants washing clothes, or the noises of the marketplace.
4 ~ The nightmares are frequent, and often you don’t know you’re dreaming until you jerk awake. Sometimes you feel like there’s someone—or something— watching you and you can almost see it out of the corner of your eye. When you whip your head around, there’s nothing there.
The Effects of Various Levels of Hardened Unnatural (HU) Trauma on Personality
1–3 ~ There’s little to distinguish you from the average person, except perhaps a tendency to snort derisively when someone mentions their “intuitions.”
4–5 ~ You tend to listen very closely and intently when someone discusses the paranormal or supernatural, trying to figure out if they know something or if they’re just talking trash.
6–7 ~ You now know and accept that there are vast, incomprehensible forces governing the universe. It strikes you as odd when people act as if they’re in control of their lives: you know better.
8–9 ~ Things that average people consider “meaningless coincidences” strike you as deeply, intensely funny because you see the connections that they do not. You may develop a reputation for laughing inappropriately.
10 ~ You are no longer surprised by violations of ordinary logic. Everything is “normal” to you—talking foliage, spontaneous combustion, and stigmata are as ordinary and reasonable as carts, dogs, and rain.
Helplessness Trauma
A sense of control is crucial for feelings of safety, even when it’s completely unmerited. When you have been challenged by helplessness, you can lose your ability to gauge how “in control” of a situation you are: you may feel powerless when the situation is not completely lost, or you may ignore real impediments from a misplaced sense of capability.
Failed Helplessness is involved in determining the maximum amount of weight your character can carry, as well as sometimes being used to make Climb, Swim, Disable Device, Fly, Ride, Sleight of Hand, Knowledge (engineering), Appraise, Heal, Perception, Sense Motive, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, and Use Magic Device rolls. Rolls to perform feats of strength, too. Hardened Helplessness, on the other hand, is involved in calculating your character’s Armor Class (AC), and is often used to make Fortitude and Will rolls, too, while both Failed and Hardened Helplessness are often used to make Reflex, Acrobatics, Escape Artist, Stealth, Craft, Knowledge (local, nature, nobility), and Survival rolls.
The Effects of Various Levels of Failed Helplessness (FH) Trauma on Personality
1 ~ At this level you’re fairly normal. Perhaps you’re a little finicky or meticulous, trying to eliminate the possibility of something going wrong.
2 ~ You have a tendency to get unreasonably nervous and pessimistic when small things go wrong. You may be irritated if someone is just a few minutes late, or if a tool you’re using suffers a minor break.
3 ~ You have an intense dislike for surprises, even good ones. They remind you of the essentially unpredictable nature of reality, and that scares and annoys you.
4 ~ You find it very difficult to trust anything. Your friends, your own abilities, even your memories could be false, waiting to betray you. You have a tendency towards obsessive-compulsive behaviors such as checking your residence two or three (or more) times every time you leave to make absolutely certain no one’s snuck in. You attempt to be prepared for every eventuality.
The Effects of Various Levels of Hardened Helplessness (HH) Trauma on Personality
1–3 ~ You don’t have any major behavior or attitude shifts yet, just minor things. You tend to be pessimistic and fatalistic, perhaps.
4–6 ~ Your fatalism has increased. When things go wrong in a big, bad way, or when trouble comes from a completely unexpected or unlikely source, you handle it with a remarkable lack of affect. (This is not necessarily incongruent with the behaviors of Failed Helplessness 2+: it’s perfectly possible to be freakishly calm about big things and freakishly upset about little things.)
7–9 ~ You have a boundless faith in the ability of chaos to screw you over. You can easily believe that even the most suspicious of mishaps is simple random chance. (“So my plow blade broke and a sharp piece of metal flew at my face. What makes you think someone tinkered with my plow? Shit happens.”)
10 ~ The distinction between “intentional” and “accidental” is pretty much lost on you. Maybe you believe that everything is completely predestined, or maybe you believe that everything in the world happens due to chance. The one thing you find hard to swallow is the idea that we are the captains of our fates.
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